St. Mark's Seminary

Training the Church’s leaders of the future

What does Gannon offer to a man interested in the priesthood?

As a Diocesan university, Gannon University offers a variety of academic degree programs to students training for the diocesan priesthood in the Formation Program of St. Mark Seminary. Bishop Donald W. Trautman, Ordinary of the Diocese of Erie, responding to the aims and objectives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, continues a tradition begun in 1945 by the University’s founder, Archbishop John Mark Gannon.

What is the Formation Program?

The Formation Program might best be described as both a place and a process for men to explore the possibility that Christ might be inviting them to make a lifelong commitment to the priesthood. This commitment calls for the seminarian’s personal discernment as well as the careful deliberation and support of the Church. The individual seminarian lives in the St. Mark community with other seminarians and the formation faculty.

How are the academic programs of the seminary and Gannon integrated?

College seminarians matriculate as full-time students in one of the two colleges of the University: the College of Humanities, Business and Education or the College of Science, Engineering and Health Sciences.

The wide range of academic programs offered to seminarians enables them to have close contact with their peers and University professors. The seminarian’s academic life at the University is complemented by programs of personal and spiritual development in residence at St. Mark Seminary.